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Vol. 2, No. 7	The Newsletter of Discernment	March 25, 1999
Loving those in error, loving the truth more, and never letting the truth become the enemy of Love

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The Final Hour

by Michael H. Brown

Dear Michael,

It is, indeed, great to hear that you do not endorse Marvin Kucera. The fact that Marv and members of the "Refuge Centers" consider you an ally is unimportant. If you affirm you don't (and never did) support him, that's sufficient. I wouldn't challenge an imprudent action, unless it threatened to harm Holy Mother the Church, and persisted in opposition to good sense and sound reasoning.

Your statement that you helped Cardinal Ratzinger's office "issue a clarification about one notorious seer" is confusing, since the only alleged seer that the Sacred Congregation for the Faith has condemned is Vassula Ryden -- a woman you support in your book, "The Final Hour".

Ms. Ryden was partly condemned because she is not of our Faith, and thus, has no Catholic Bishop. The validity of all other apparitions has been (is and will be) left to the authority of the local bishop to discern and adjudicate. [More on that later.] I'm grateful for Cardinal Ratzinger's ruling on Vassula Ryden, because his decision affirms that you have no right to publish "The Final Hour" or "The Day Will Come" or "Witness". [More on that later.]

By writing that you abetted an unidentified bishop issue a public notice against another apparition, you appear to hold the incredulous belief, that Catholic bishops and the Holy See should come to you for advice. Forgive me, please, for sounding unkind. I'm not opposed to your motives. Although I trust and pray your considerations are sincere, in the light of the Church's teaching on false apparitions, your testimony stands out as seriously flawed. Let us move on.

Phil Kronzer has relayed that, even though you list Theresa Lopez under the heading of "Major Apparition Site" on page 354 of "The Final Hour", you have withdrawn support for her. Once again, but a repentant sinner, the errors of your past ways do not concern me. God forgives the humble and contrite. If, however, you insistently persist in damaging the Word of God and the reputation of His Blessed Mother, Our Lady, then -- while loving the sinner -- I must do all I'm able to end such wrongs.

The catechism lists nine ways a person might cooperate in another's guilt. It is a sin to "remain silent" in the face of sin. It is cowardly to not admonish the wrong-doer. As in Matthew 18:15, if I believe that you are doing wrong, then I must go first to you and confront you one-on-one, before doing anything that might disrepute you. This I have done with the Marian Movement of Priests, Wayne Wybel, the Medjugorje crowd, the Riehle Foundation, the 101 Foundation and promoters of the Kingdom of the Divine Will. In reply, without answering a single legitimate question or disclaiming anything discussed privately, they wrote against me.

And so, privately, man to man, brother to brother, believer to believer, I voice my concerns about your writings. Reiterating my belief that your desire to serve the Will of God has been clouded by the Great Deceiver, I would only add, don't feel isolated. The Church's history holds countless pious and intelligent people who were led astray by cleverly disguised deceptions. Having fallen prey to many snares, I understand and empathize with you. If my words cut to the quick, I pray they cut CLEAN.

Others have said I write like a boxer, that I'm not very gentle with my pen. This may be so. Wherever I clearly discern the battle against fallen principalities and powers, my hits hold nothing back. Please do not take my comments personally. It is the sinister and lying forces far beyond our beings I oppose. May we rid them of the Church with all our might.

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JOURNALIST

Your background as an investigative journalist has provided you with a cautious writing style, very protective of your personal responsibility for your words.

"Could it be - Was San Damiano a `false light?' - There are things that bother me - The Church pronounced a negative but - there are some signs of possible demonic but - was this a hoax - etc." All these types of journalistic jargon are common to newspapers but not to Catholic Books. I envy your writing ability (I have none.), but Catholics writers such as William Thomas Walsh do not employ such wordisms. They say "Yes" when they mean "Yes", and "No" when they mean "No".

Because of your word mastery, if I suggested that you promoted or advocated a false mystic, in most cases, you could write your way out. Thus, the problems found within your books are not due to poor communication or investigative skills. As a journalist, you excel in both disciplines. Instead, the faults in your conclusions emerge from your understanding of theology, and too, eschatological matters --things related to the end times.

In the sixties, I was a major promoter of many false apparitions. In some cases I was the main supplier of literature for the United States on apparitions that no one else promoted. Every apparition that came forth in the sixties I believed in. I knew some of the seers personally. When some of their messages were directed to me, using my name, my spiritual pride was up in the sky. It was if I was God's special chosen son.

While devouring these mystic messages like PacMan, the downfall of the demonic (in my case) was brought about by also reading the Bible, the Doctrines of the Church, 38 Volumes of Early Church History, and the 104 Church approved apparitions that have taken place since the death of Christ.

Holy reading helped me to clearly see that today's modern and popularized mystics consistently contradicted approved apparitions and Church Doctrine, especially on eschatology. At the same time, today's false seers regularly contradict one another. Reasoning that if these celebrity "visionaries" were authentic, then the Church's Doctrine on eschatology and rulings on genuine apparitions were wrong, I asked, "How can God contradict Himself?" Obviously, He can't.... never has and never will. The gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church. Aware that today's fakers were beguiled and beguiling, I stopped promoting them, and grew disillusioned with all apparitions. This took place in 1972.

A few months later, the San Diego Union carried a front page article on the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Fatima crying in New Orleans. Curious and moved, I flew to the Big Easy, whereupon I was permitted to hold the tears of Our Lady in my own unworthy hands. The local Bishop's investigation confirmed this phenomena was truly from God. Sadly, but so typical of the demonic, at the same time, a false Cajun seer was spewing garbage about this miracle. When Father Romagosa performed an exorcism on her, she turned demonic before his eyes. Amazingly, a large number of misguided souls continue to follow her, believing her to be a true mystic.

At the moment of this madwoman's shrieking, I discovered my life's mission -- to protect and defend God's children from everything false and preserve everything beautiful and true. Well read in Church history, Theology (not mystical) and discernment, I returned home, and for two years consumed every book I could locate on mystical theology, cults, and the demonic. What I learned more than any other thing is found in the next chapter.

What I learned from the lives of the saints is that spiritual giants such as St. John Vianney, St. Teresa of Avila and Sister Josefa Menendez had been fooled by false mystics, and even by their own private revelations. What I learned by studying the Bible, Church Doctrine, History and approved mystics, is that the only safe way to discern a true mystic from a false one is to observe the degree of their obedience (or disobedience) to the presiding Bishop.

In fact publication and promotion of even a true mystic is against Canon Law without an Imprimatur.

Although the Index of Forbidden Books has been done away with because of the lack of funds in the Vatican, the Catholic Encyclopedia states on page 290: "Thus it is not necessary that a book be listed on the Index to be forbidden. There are twelve classes of publications that are forbidden by general law (cc. 831, 832). In brief, these are: 5: works on visions and other supernatural phenomena published without approval,. 6: books that attack Catholic dogma or the hierarchy or defend errors condemned by the Holy See., 11 books propagation false indulgences, 12 printed images of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, the angels, saints or other servants of God, which are not in keeping with the teaching of the Church.

What about the abolition of Canons 1399 and 2318 of the former Canonical Code? Pope Paul VI removed these Canons in order to allow quick promotion and spread of private revelation in which no declaration from the local bishop has been made. This is in keeping with the Decree of Pope Urban VIII.

What about the decree of Pope Urban VIII? Pope Urban stated that it is better to believe than to not believe and that if it proves to be false God would honor your simple faith. But what does Pope Urban mean when he says "If it proves to be false'? By who's judgment does Pope Urban VIII mean when he says, "If it proves to be false"? Is it by the seer, the promoters, yourself? Who proves it to be false? It is the local Bishop of the seer, and him alone.

What about the statement that the Riehle Foundation makes on all their books including yours? "The publisher recognizes and accepts that the final authority regarding this apparitions in the Catholic Church rests with the Holy See of Rome, to whose judgment we willingly submit." This is true but not true. It is true that if Rome wanted to interfere with the authority of the local Bishop, they could. But the fact is that Rome never ever has changed the decision of a local Bishop in matters of private revelation and never will. The fact is that Rome never ever has officially approved an private revelation, even Fatima. The fact is that local Bishops do not get their authority from the Pope, but directly from the Apostles. (Stais Comnitum of Leo XII - 1896)

"This power of the Pope in no way derogates from the ordinary and immediate power of Episcopal jurisdiction by which bishops, who have been sent by the Holy Spirit to succeed and take the place of the Apostles, feed and govern each his own flock as true pastors; but rather, this authority is asserted, strengthened and vindicated by the Supreme and Universal Pastor." (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma Page 389)

"An ordinary power, that is, it is associated with the Episcopal office, an immediate power, that is it is not practiced at the order of a superior, but in the bishop's own name. Thus bishops are not delegated (agents) and so are not vicars (representatives) of the pope., but they are independent pastors of the flocks entrusted to them, even though they are subordinate to the pope. A power appointed by God for the Apostles (on the ground of divine ordinance, whether in the immediate commission of Christ, or on the direction of the Holy Spirit - Acts 20,26) have passed on their pastoral office to the bishops. The bishops are the successors of the Apostles, not in such a manner that an individual bishop is a successor of an individual Apostle, but that the bishops in their totality are successors of the College of Apostles.

"This is a true pastoral power, as it embraces all the ecclesiastical powers to the exercise of the office, the power to legislate, to judge, and to punish. It is a power which is limited locally and materially, since it extends only to a definite segment of the Church., and is circumscribed by the Papal power which is superior to it. Matters of causae maiors (universal importance), touching the welfare of the whole Church, are reserved to the Holy Father."

Why have I elaborated so much on this point? Because no matter what else I could say about your books, they are on private revelation and they do not have an Imprimatur. They are against the Canon Laws of the Church and against the Forth Commandment.

The following document from Cardinal Ratzinger's Office puts every thing straight, but one clarification must be made first. It is said of Scripture and of true Private Revelation that never ever does God say one single word that does not have a salvation meaning. Therefore every single word of a true Private Revelation is about Faith or Morals. That being said, any work put in writing on Faith and Morals must have an Imprimatur. This is what the Vatican says:

II. Regarding the circulation of texts of alleged private revelations, the Congregation states:

1) The Interpretation given by some individuals to a Decision approved by Paul VI on 14 October 1966 and promulgated on 15 November of that year, in virtue of which writings and messages resulting from alleged revelations could be freely circulated in the Church, is absolutely groundless. This decision actually referred to the "abolition of the Index of Forbidden Books" and determined that --- after the relevant censures were lifted --- the moral obligation still remained of not circulating or reading those writings which endanger faith and morals.

2) In should be recalled however that with regard to the circulation of texts of alleged private revelations, canon 623 #1 of the current Code remains in force: "the Pastors of the Church have the right to demand that writings to be published by the Christian faithful which touch upon faith or morals be submitted to their judgment".

3) Alleged supernatural revelations and writings concerning them are submitted in first instance to the judgment of the diocesan Bishop, and , in particular cases, to the judgment of the Episcopal Conference and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Listen to the words "absolutely groundless". This absolutely groundless is spoken to the Riehle Foundation, the 101 Foundation, Queenship Publishing, and the like, who make such claims.

I wrote a book called "THE MIRACLE OF DAMASCUS". I would not publish it without the Imprimatur of the bishop of Damascus for the reasons about. I have that Imprimatur. Claims were made that the Imprimatur was a fake. I then sent people to Damascus to verify the Imprimatur and get an opinion from the Nuncio to the Vatican. In both cases the Imprimatur was held up as real. In spite of this, as long as any question remained as to the orthodoxy of the book, I decided to remove the book from the market. I stopped all sales, bought back all remaining books and closed down all six centers that were selling it. I lost over $280,000.00. But my soul is more important than the money. Is your soul more important than the sales of your books?

To the true and approved stigmatist, Marie Julie Jahenny Christ said,

"During the time of the approach of the punishments announced at La Salette, an unlimited amount of FALSE REVELATIONS will arise from hell like a swarm of flies: a last attempt of Satan to choke and destroy the belief in the TRUE REVELATIONS by false ones."

The problem with your books is that you have done just what this prophesy of Christ predicted. You have mixed up true apparitions with false ones in order to come up with a false eschatology and a false overall message.

The eschatology of true and approved mystics throughout the two thousand year history of the Church gives a totally different scenario of the future than what you give in your book "THE FINAL HOUR" and this is the whole point of the book. I have spent over 30 years studying the end times and the future. I put over 104 true prophecies about the future into my computer along with the pertinent Bible passages. What I discovered in doing this is the master plan of Satan.

Before I did this I could not understand why Satan would allow what appeared to be good fruits in these false revelations. In fact, in some cases the good fruits are real. Would Satan be willing to loose a few battles in order to win the big war? The answer of course is "Yes". Understand this, that if I know what is going to happen in the future by reading true and approved private revelation, Satan knows also. If Satan knows, what is his plan to counteract it. For the Protestants he made one plan which you fell right into, and in fact, you quote from one of these Protestants the same errors. For the Catholics Satan devised another plan and you fell for that also. To understand Satan's plans you must first understand what the true prophets have said about the future. An exceptional book on this subject is "TRIAL, TRIBULATION, AND TRIUMPH". The following is an outline of what true and approved prophets have said about the future.

1. Yes! There will be a chastisement in which 75% of the world will die. This chastisement will last from 4 to 7 years. It will start as a civil war and en economic crash of the entire world. It will escalate into civil wars all over the world. In the later part of this chastisement there will be some natural disasters sent by God, and yes, nations will disappear.

2. During this chastisement a Pope from Krakow will die in exile. A new pope will replace him so fast that there will hardly be time to bury the last pope. This new Pope will be the holiest Pope in History.

3. This new Pope will order a man from the Habsburg family to take on the old title of "Holy Roman Emperor". This man, (I have seen him), will then bring us out of the problems of the civil wars and bring order back to the world. He will have the help of God, and the final three days of the chastisement will be to help the Monarch win the final war. This is the three days of darkness sent by God to help the Pope and the Monarch.

4. After the chastisement there will be a period of peace on earth where there will be only on Christian religion - Catholic. But there will also be Moslems and Jews left. This peace will last about 40 years. The Monarch will lay down his crown and retire to a monastery in the Holy Land. He will divide the world into 10 Kingdoms. These are the 10 Kingdoms that introduce the Antichrist.

5. Then comes the Antichrist who will rule the world for 3-1/2 years. He will rebuild the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem and sit there as God. He will outlaw the Mass throughout the world. The Pope at that time will have to go into hiding with a large group of Catholics. This hiding place will be hidden from the eyes of the Antichrist and of Satan.
6. Enoch and Elias will come to combat the Antichrist. In the end the Antichrist will kill them and place their bodies on the outside alter to be mocked. On the third day after their death, Enoch and Elias will rise up to Heaven body and soul.

7. This will anger the Antichrist so much that he will announce to the whole world that he will fly up into the Heavens and bring them back. On the appointed day the Antichrist will fly up into the sky, and there by and hand of God he will be stuck dead and fall to the earth. The earth will open up and take his body down into hell in the view of all.

8. Since the persecutions of the Antichrist were so great, even his followers will be happy to see him dead. Everyone will say, eat and drink and marry for the Antichrist is dead.

9. 45 Days later Christ will appear in the sky. At the moment of his appearance all those destined for Hell will vanish from the face of the earth. All those left will rise up to meet Him is the sky body and soul. The bodies of those who had died over the past 6000 years will come out of the dust to meet their souls in Heaven. All the souls in Purgatory will come forward. Then with the wave of His hand all the stars, the earth, and Purgatory will disappear.

10. The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth (The Church), The Kingdom of Heaven in Purgatory, and the Kingdom of Heaven in the Sky will all become one new Heaven and Earth combined.

The doctrine of the Church (what you have to believe to be a Catholic) makes no statements about the Chastisement, although many Popes have, including Pope John Paul II. But the Doctrine says a lot about the Antichrist and the Second Coming of Christ.

Page 485 of "Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Dr. Ludwig Ott"

1: Reality of the Second Coming

At the end of the world, Christ will come again in glory to pronounce judgment. (De fide.)

Jesus repeatedly clearly foretold His second coming (parousia) at the end of the world. Mt. 16:27, Mk 8:38, Luke 9:26, Mt. 24:30, Mk 13:26, Luke 21:27, Dn &:13, Mt 25:31. Mt 26:64, Luke 17:24-26, Act 1:11 --- The purpose of the Second Coming is the re-awakening of the dead and the granting of reward to the just. (2 Thess 1:8)

2: Signs of the Second Coming

a) The preaching of the Gospel to the whole world
(Which has not happened yet)

b) The conversion of the Jews
"all Israel" will be converted and saved.
(This has not happened yet)

c) Falling away from the Faith
(This must happen after (a) and (b)

d) The appearance of Antichrist
"The Lord Jesus will, on His arrival, kill him. - Antichrist is to appear as a definite human personality, who is the instrument of Satan. --- The oldest monograph on Antichrist is that composed by St. Hippolytus of Rome.

e) Severe tribulations
(Not the Chastisement but the tribulations at the time of the Antichrist)

What do we learn from the Doctrine of the Church? We learn that we have to believe that the Second Coming of Christ is after the Antichrist and that when He comes the world will end. There will be no more earth after Christ comes. In fact Christ will never set His food on this earth again, since He will draw all to Him in the sky.

Christ will not come until after the death of the Antichrist. Christ will not come until the Gospel is preached to the whole world. Christ will not come again until the entire Jewish Nation is converted. The Antichrist is not a movement, or an idea, or a country, but a true and real human being. These are the things we must believe (De Fide)

As you can see by approved private revelation and the Doctrine of the Church, Christ cannot come in our lifetime, unless we live a long time. Six times the Bible says that if people say "Christ is coming, do not believe it because the son of perdition must come first." But even the Antichrist cannot come until we have a purification of the earth, the Chastisement. Yes! I believe in the Chastisement but so what? There is nothing we can do about it except to stay in the state of grace. According to true and approved prophets, the good will die as well as the bad. Can we be saved by refuges, or consecrations, or candles, or covered windows, or any other rituals? No! God will take who God will take, and He will leave who He will leave. The next Pope, not this one, will lead us out of the Chastisement and into a period of peace for about 40 years. During this peace the Pope will convert the entire world including the Jews. Peace and happiness will be so complete that young people, who did not go through the Chastisement, will loose their Faith, or at least stop practicing it. This will bring in the Antichrist, who will be 30 years old when he builds the Temple of Solomon and rules the entire world. He will rule for 3-1/2 years and be killed by the Second Coming of Christ. Judgment and the end of the world will take place at His Coming. This is the teaching of the Church. How does that compare to a man who learned his eschatology from unapproved mystics and published books making himself out to be the expert, contrary to the Teaching of the Church.

Michael, I do not think you have done anything wrong deliberately. I am not attacking your motives. But without you knowing it, you have become a tool of the master plan of the demonic. What is this master plan?

1: Satan knows that there will be a Chastisement. He knows it will come from God and that he cannot stop it. What he can do, however, is get as many souls into Hell during the Chastisement as he can. He has been planing this for many years. "The Moment of Death" is the moment of Salvation or Hell. At the moment of death we can repent of our sins and go to Heaven. In a Chastisement people will know that death is near and a great deal of repentance will take place. Satan knows this. What can he do? For the Protestants he figured out the stupidest thing that anyone would possibly fall for - "Rapture". Facing death they will not repent, they will say "I am not worried. God is going to rapture me away at the last moment and then I will return to be with Christ for a thousand years on earth." No repentance - no salvation.

What then is Satan' plan for Catholics? Fear not, we have the "Warning". We do not have to repent now, God will send the "warning" and reveal all our sins to us. Then we can repent. When we see the Chastisement on us, we will say, "This cannot be the real Chastisement, because there has to be a "warning" first. Even at the face of death, they will insist it is not going to happen because there is no "warning" first. Will there really be a warning? No! Although picked up by all the other false mystics, the idea of a "warning" comes from the demonic apparitions of Garabandal. Garabandal is the most condemned apparition in the Twentieth Century. Seven times the local bishops (four times receiving the Vatican help) have condemned Garabandal. If you don't believe the Church, I have a file a foot thick.

The next thing Satan wants to do to prepare us for the Chastisement is to declare the next Pope and the Pope's appointed Holy Roman Emperor, the Beast and the Antichrist. I have already pointed out that the next Pope will be the holiest Pope in history and the Monarch will be like David or Moses or Pepin or Constantine. Check the prophecies of Don Bosco or St. Malachy, but there are 104 others.

If you read the writings of Saint Hippolytus of Rome in the Second Century (he learned from St. John) you will know two things. That the Pope could never be the Antichrist or the Beast who helps the Antichrist. The last pope will be named Peter II. We also know that the Antichrist will not come from Europe but from the old ruins of Babylon and will first appear teaching and converting the Jews away from Christ, who they had been converted to by the Pope.

How will Satan convince Catholics that this Holy Pope and the Great Monarch are the Beast and the Antichrist. First Satan must be willing to give up real fruits. He must create cults of believers within the Church, who will trust him over the Bishops. When he separates the people from the bishops, he has won them over to himself, since St. Clement of Rome (the second Pope) said that, "anything done without the Bishop is from the devil." Once he has these cults of believers who follow his hundreds of mystics as though they were getting direct messages from Heaven and no longer need the Teaching Authority of the Church, he will be ready for his master plan. [See article by the Bishop of Fatima in Soul Magazine - Sep.-Oct. 1997]

Someday all these false mystics that you support will all have apparitions at the same time with the same message. They will all announce that the new pope is the Antichrist. [Some are already doing it now.] They will be separated from their bishops ("Believe the Pope only." They say.), and now they will be separated from the Pope also. Satan will have won their souls (Outside the Church there is no Salvation) and make it very hard on the New Pope.

One of the great organizations of the Church is The Blue Army of Fatima. There official Magazine from Fatima has never been made into an English version in the United States although they have tried many times. Soul Magazine has lost over 170,000 distribution since the founding of the 101 Foundation almost on the same property. The Official Pilgrim Virgin Statue, that I talk so much about, has been stolen by the 101 Foundation and John Haffert and is now mixed up with the likes of Garabandal, Vassula and The Poem of the Man God. I have a picture (just taken) of Vassula and Conchita together giving each other support. On the back page of the last issue of Soul there is this heading and story copied from Catholic Twin Circle.

Editor Gabriel Meyer raised an interesting question about membership in movements in the Church, including Marian movements. The question is, does membership in a particular movement tend to move its members to the heart of the Church or to isolate them into elitist groups. The following useful list of questions and comments were posed by Meyer to help discern the nature of Church movements.

1. Does my involvement with the Marian movement lead me to have a hunger for Scripture study, or for solid spiritual reading, or do I only read literature about apparitions or other phenomena?

2. Do I only, or mainly, attend "charismatic" Masses? Or chose those celebrated by priests involved with the Marian movement? Do I find that I can't trust other Catholics who haven't had the kind of special experiences I've had?

3. Do I find myself eager to read about the latest "revelations" to purported "visionaries", or has my encounter with Mary's presence inspired me to pray more deeply myself and to seek God's purpose for my life?

4. Do my devotions to Mary lead me to have a deeper desire for Christ? Does my devotional reading lead me to a desire to pray more deeply with the Church in the Liturgy?

5. Is my involvement with the Marian movement a divisive factor in my family, my parish? Have I lost friends over it? Have I broken off relations with someone on the basis of whether that person shared my belief in a particular "visionary" or not?

6. Would I lose my faith if this or that visionary or purported apparition were proved false?

7. Do I find that the sacraments are more and more important in my life? Do I find my perceptions of Mary deepening and growing?

8. Do I find that I'm attracted to humble service in my parish or community, or is every opportunity to serve merely a chance to convince others of the veracity of the apparitions or visionaries I believe in?

9. Are the claims of visions, apparitions and phenomena less, or more important to me now than when I first became a part of the Marian movement?

10. Do I find myself preoccupied with various apocalyptic scenarios? Do I find myself feeling more and more negatively about the Church, my fellow parishioners, the clergy?

Today's spiritual movements are, as the modern popes have recognized, a blessing for the Church. They open doors for people who might otherwise never have encountered the Gospel. They provide settings in which Catholics who've grown up in the faith can be renewed. In their vitality and openness, they provide examples of what ordinary parishes might be. They teach people to dispose themselves habitually to grace.

They are, as Pope Paul VI said, "an opportunity for the Church."

But to fulfill their function, and to remain reliable, they must also steer into the center of the river, allowing their courses to be corrected by the Church, their agendas to be molded by her concerns, their vitality channeled into her needs, their sails filled with her winds --- that are, Christ guarantees, the winds of the Holy Spirit.

The banks of that river are strewn with the wreckage of well-intentioned idealistic movements, initially propelled by those winds, that, nevertheless, ended up foundering in the shallow water of pride misguided enthusiasm, and division --- their life choked off in a spiritual cul-de-sac.

It's not more "secret Marian revelations" that we need but the rediscovery of Mary, Mother of the Church."

Michael, you said in your fax to me that you never had anything to do with Marvin Kucera, and his "Refuge Centers", I take you at your word, although he claimed to have your support. We cannot reach him now to check this out, but nonetheless, many witnesses claim that he carried your book, "The Final Hour" around with him. It is claimed that he and his followers learned from you their ideas of the "Final Hours of this Earth". When you read his books of revelations, "My Heart Awaits You." they sound as though they are plagiarizing your book, "The Final Hour". Maybe you didn't support Marv, as you claim, but you did create him.

There are good cults (like the Legion of Mary and the Blue Army) and there are bad cults within the Catholic Church. A cult in the bad sense is one that (one way or another) gets its people to read only its books and/or its recommended books and readings. Originally cults were defined as groups or individual leaders that controlled every aspect of ones life including the way they think, and what they did in every aspect of their life. Today in the Catholic Church there are cults that do the same thing without a leader or a group to direct the control. These groups do it with Newsletters. They do it with "messages from Heaven". God, Jesus, Mary, the Saints, tell them what to do, what to believe, who to give to, how to pray, who to be friendly with, and how bad the Catholic Church is. They even tell them to not trust any Bishop except the Pope. These are cults without a single leader or a group. They are cults created from Newsletters from Heaven. These poor people do not know it, but they have given up their belief in the Catholic Church and replaced it with a Faith based on "Messages from Heaven".

And these messages never stop coming. Good Catholics who were daily communicants even before them, now no longer trust their Bishops, or even the Vatican, but only trust the messages they get from these Newsletters. And who are putting out these newsletters? Is it Father Patrick Peyton"s "Rosary Crusade"? No! He has been forgotten. Is it the Legion of Mary, started to activate the messages of Fatima. No! They are forgotten. Is it the Blue Army of Fatima? No! Is it Bishop Sheen? No! Is it Mother Theresa of Calcutta? No! Is it Cardinal Ratzinger? No! Is it Pope John Paul II? No! Is it true and approved apparitions, like Our Lady of Soufanieh, Our Lady of Nicaragua, Our Lady of Akita, Our Lady of Tears, Our Lady of Egypt? No! Is it true mystics like Don Bosco, St. Bridget of Sweden, St. Columbkille, St. Cyprian, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Blessed Anna Katherine Emmerich, St. Faustina, the pastor of Hermes, St. Hildegard, St. Hippolytus, Holzhauer, St. Irenaeus, Maria Julie Jahenny, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, John of the Cleft Rock, St. John Damascene, La Salette, St. Louis de Montfort, St. Malachy, St. Martin of Tours, Mother Shipton, Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, and Mother Elena Aiello of Calabria, Italy? No!

Who puts out these Newsletters? Ted and Maureen Flynn "Signs of Our Times" , The 101 Foundation, the Riehle Foundation, (whom you dedicate your book to), Queenship Publishing, and the 96 Marian Centers across the country.

Where do they get their support and credibility? From people like Mother Angelica and Michael Brown. Where do they get their ideas? From Michael Brown. Where do these seers learn to give messages that cooperate with other popular messages? From Michael Brown. There are cults in the Catholic Church being formed by Newsletters of Messages from Heaven, and who is the author of their bible? Michael Brown! Michael Brown has put together a scenario of the future based on a mixture of true apparitions, Protestant theologians and false apparitions that brings Christ into the world before the year 2000 or at least during or at the end of a Chastisement. All of this us untrue, of course, but who is falling for this garbage? Father Gobbi, for one, and the Marian Movement of Priests, who says that the Antichrist will appear in 1998, and the Second Coming will be in the year 2000. But of course Father Gobbi and Michael Brown support Vassula, so we know where they are coming from, and where they are going.

Yes! Michael, your books are very convincing for anyone who has not read mystical theology and the Teachings of the Church. But the fact is that (without your knowing it) you are helping the master plan of Satan to attack the Church and the next pope.

These are the false seers that you call "MAJOR APPARITION SITES OF THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES. False are Emma Curotte, Ida of Amsterdam, Garabandal, Mama Rosa of San Damiano, (Terelya - I'm still investigating), Gobbi, Maria Esperanza, Medjugorje, Kibeho, Ballinspittle, Carns Grotto, Melleray Grotto, Julia Kim, Vassula Ryden, Terra Blanca, Mark Tremor, Patricia Talbott, Christine Gallagher, Estela Ruiz, Jim Singer, Theresa Lopez, and Nancy Fowler.

Now let me point out actual passages from your books that are contrary to the Faith of the Catholic Church and to the approved Saints and Mystics.

1. On page 74 TFH you contradict yourself (and in fact condemn yourself) since you state: "ROSA MYSTICA apparitions which started there in 1947 were condemned by the local bishop, Bruno Foresti of Brescia, who in a formal declaration said the Mystica phenomena failed to "give good reasons for credibility" and that whoever promoted it "disturbs the faith of believers, inducing them to act contrary to the teachings of the Church." Then you go on to promote it in five more pages of your book, inducing Catholics to act contrary to the teachings of the Church. And mixing it in with another condemned apparition, Our Lady of All Nations.

2. In Chapter 13 TFH, you promote the condemned apparitions of Teresita Castillo of Manila (A Shower of Roses), that in itself is not as harmful as the way you treat the Bishop and the Nuncio to the Vatican (who is given the authority by the Pope to speak on behalf of the Pope in matters of Faith, Morals, and Church discipline). You say, "The Church, perhaps wary about charges of superstitiousness, decided that there was no room in such modern times for Teresita's apparitions and set about crushing the apparition, --- The repression was orchestrated by the Papal Nuncio in Manila." Using words like "hastily - coerced - crushing - threat of excommunication - bowing to the pressure of a new and scientific world" leads me to believe that you could care less what the Church thinks. What matters is what Michael H. Brown thinks. This is what you are telling your readers, "Do not trust the Church." And now a man who learned his theology from false mystics wants to teach the Church how to discern.

3. The false mystic, Caterina Richero, is a starting example of mystics who play the Satanic game that I mentioned earlier. "The day on which Christ would manifest [Himself] was near." These vague statements, will not be so vague when getting to Gobbi.

4. Chapter 16 TFH, and in fact the rest of the book, in entirely inter-spaced with the messages of Garabandal. On page 127 you state that the apparitions have "neither been approved nor condemned." This is a blatant lie, either because of poor journalistic research or to mislead the public. Garabandal has been condemned by seven consecutive bishop with backing from the Vatican. All of these documents I have. The latest, October 11, 1996 the new bishop, Jose Vilaplana, again placed his prohibition on the alleged apparitions and said it is final.

"Some people have been coming directly to the Diocese of Santander (Spain) asking about the alleged apparitions of Garabandal and especially for the answer about the position of the hierarchy of the Church concerning these apparitions.

I need to communicate that:

1. All the bishops of the diocese since 1961 through 1970 agreed that there was no supernatural validity for the apparitions.

2. In the month of December of 1977 Bishop Dal Val of Santander, in union with his predecessors, stated that in the six years of being bishop of Santander there were no new phenomena.

3. The same bishop, Dal Val, let a few years go by to allow the confusion or fanaticism to settle down, and then he initiated a commission to examine the apparitions in more depth. The conclusion of the commission agreed with the findings of the previous bishops. That there was no supernatural validity to such apparitions.

4. At the time of the conclusions of the study, in 1991, I was installed bishop in the diocese. So during my visit to Rome, as limina visit which happened in the same year, I presented to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith the study, and I asked for pastoral direction concerning this case.

5. On Nov. 28, 1992, the Congregation sent me an answer saying that after examining the documentation, there was no need for direct intervention (by the Vatican) to take away the jurisdiction of the ordinary bishop of Santander in this case. Such a right belongs to the ordinary. Previous declarations of the Holy See agree in this finding. In the same letter they suggested that if I find it necessary to publish a declaration, that I reconfirm that there was no supernatural validity in the alleged apparitions, and this will make a unanimous position with my predecessors.

6. Given that the declarations of my predecessors who studied the case have been clear and unanimous, I don't find it necessary to have a new public declaration that would raise notoriety about something which happened so long ago. However, I find it necessary to rewrite this report as a direct answer to the people who ask for direction concerning this question, which is now final: I agree with [and] I accept the decision of my predecessors and the direction of the Holy See.

7. In reference to the Eucharistic celebration in Garabandal, following the decision of my predecessors, I ruled that Masses can be celebrated only in the parish church and there will be no references to the alleged apparitions and visiting priests who want to say Mass must have approval from the pastor, who has my authorization. It's my wish that this information is helpful to you.

My regards in Christ,

Jose Vilaplana
Bishop of Santander
Oct. 11, 1996
[Note: underlines and bolding added for effect]

5. Now disregarding that fact that Garabandal is false, you start with a false premise to create your scenario of the future in Chapter 17 TFH, which is "Warning - Miracle - Chastisement". As I stated there will be no warning or miracle. But to show the master plan of these false mystics look to your own book, page 140 and I quote, "The Blessed Virgin," Conchita informed interrogators, "said in 1962 that there will be only two more popes after Paul VI." Since there have already been two more popes, Pope John Paul II being the second, that means that the Chastisement, the Antichrist, and the Second Coming of Christ must all happen before he dies. So I assume he has to live at least another 60 years. Since he is 80 already, that will make him the oldest Pope in history - 150 years old. That in itself is nonsense, but a true prophet and Saint, St. Malachy has listed every Pope since 1143, including the anti-Popes. He lists Pope John Paul II as "DE LABORE SOLIS", which means one who labors everywhere the sun is. He lists the next Pope (Which Conchita says doesn't exist) as "GLORIA OLIVA", which means the glory of the olive, which is a peace symbol. And finally St. Malachy lists "PETRUS ROMANUS", Peter of Rome, or Peter II. St. Malachy then states the following:

"In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock among many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people."

6. From page 147 to 149 you write about Rosa Quatrini of San Damiano, and in spite of writing the truth about it, that Bishop Malchiodo and the Vatican condemned it, you go on to treat it as true. Why? Because as you state regarding her messages, "Was that the Warning, the Miracle, and the great Chastisement?"

7. Now I want you to look back into your own book on Page 172 to see what I mean when I say that you are playing into the hands of Satan's Master Plan, "to attack the next Pope and the Monarch" as the Beast and the Antichrist. On page 172 you quote a Baptist theologian named John P. Walvoord who sees the future something like this:

A "Mediterranean dictator" will rise with tremendous charisma, taking control of the area around the Mediterranean and fitting the description of the beast of Revelation. [This is the holy man that the Pope (Glory of the Olive) will appoint as Holy Roman Emperor.]

"The dictator will seize control of a new ten-nation European confederacy, and for three and a half years the 42 months mentioned in Revelation 13:5 will seduce the world by masquerading as a brilliant, indeed ingenious savior and prince of peace." (page 172) [In fact, he will be a prince of peace and not the Antichrist. How can I know that for sure? Because the Antichrist will not come from Europe, but the Middle East. He will not create a Ten nation federation, he will take over a federation already in place. He will first convert the Jews and build the Temple of Solomon. He will not be with Peter the Roman, but against him. My prince of peace will not build the Temple, he will not be able to do great signs and wonders, he will not be against the Church, he will not declare himself God. These are the signs to look for in the Antichrist. But the Monarch, who will come before the Antichrist to help the Church, will be accused of being the Antichrist, and this is the Master Satanic Plan.]

Falling again into Satan's trap, you again quote the Protestant, anti-Catholic, Walvoord as saying that we would then have the Second Coming of Jesus. Since everyone knows the Antichrist must come first, if Satan can get people to believe that the Monarch of Europe is the Antichrist, then when the real Antichrist comes, he can be declared the real Christ.

8. Now we come to "Father" Gobbi and the Marian Movement of Priests" which Chapter 24 TFH is dedicated to. By the way, we have yet to prove he is a priest, since we cannot find his bishop. Gobbi states, and you quote (Page 182) that Satan is now in his final battle with Mary. Satan's final battle is with the use of the Antichrist at the end of the world. So are we to assume that the Antichrist is here now? Gobbi says so. "When the abomination of desolation is truly entering into the holy temple of God." , Gobbi's voices say. The abomination of desolation is how we will recognize the Antichrist as stated in Thessalonians and Daniel. This will be when he rebuilds the Temple in Jerusalem and sets himself in the Holy of Holies as God. But Gobbi will have you believe that this is when the Pope enters St. Peter's. Now here is how Gobbi helps you get all mixed up in your head, and I quote Page 184. "When the abomination of desolation comes, when Satan finds himself in the temple itself, after the apostasy, the Great Chastisement cannot be far behind." So your place the Chastisement after the Antichrist, but this is not so. The Chastisement is from God and has nothing to do with the Antichrist. The 3-1/2 years of the Antichrist are not from God, but are called the final persecution of the Church by Satan. Mixing the two together is the same error the Jews made in mixing together the first and second coming of Christ as one and the same period of history.

Listen to the following garbage from Gobbi quoted on Page 185 TFH, "When, in this last century ---" If this is the last century then the world will end before the year 2000. And this is exactly what Gobbi says in message 532 "Apple of My eye' given at Guadalupe December 5, 1994 that Jesus would return in the year 2000 to establish His Kingdom on this earth. This is a Protestant belief condemned by the Church, which you repeat on Page 296 quoting Christina Gallagher and in Pages 325 to 340 you true to put it all together in a mess. The Kingdom of Christ on this earth is the Church and He established it at Calvary when he established the Mass so that He could be with us all days until the end of the world. In message 407 "The Number of the Beast" his voices said that "the very person of the Antichrist would appear in the year 1998." Now, Mr. Brown, 1998 is one month away. When the Antichrist does not appear (and he will not), will you retract and remove your book from the market for the salvation of your soul?

You go on to say on Page 185, "This is in basic agreement with the theory set forth by Dr. Walvoord, who believes the chastisements will arrive after the Anti-Christ takes control." This is Protestant and not Catholic which you repeat from other false mystics on Page 188.. Then again on Page 320 you state that the Antichrist will be arriving "between the waring or during stages of a chastisement. Neither is it out of line with the theories of Dr. Walvoord, the Baptist theologian who interpreted the Old and New Testaments as predicting the `Mediterranean Dictator. --- The dictator, said Walvoord, will seize control of a new ten-nation European confederacy, and will seduce the world by masquerading as a brilliant, indeed ingenious savior and prince of peace." This prince of peace that you will be fighting against will be the friend of the Pope and I will be fighting for.

In 1982 I completed a book called, THE ARK OF APOCALYPSE. On the front cover is a picture of the Great Monarch with the sub title, "This is a fiction story about World War III, I think". In one of the chapters, I stated in 1982 that Protestants throughout the world would be calling him the Antichrist and that false mystics from all over the world would be doing the same. This was the entire reason for writing this book - to protect this man from these demonic people. The second half of the book gives the true and Church approved prophesies regarding the Great Monarch and the Bible passages referring to him. For financial reasons, I was never able to publish that book. I was taken down by the Marian Centers, especially the Riehle Foundation and the 101 Foundation. As you can see, I keep loosing the battles, but I have not lost the war. It's God's war.

1. Your understanding of the Bible is amazingly bad. Although you see correctly Zechariah 138-9 as speaking of the Chastisement, you mix Joel 2:28-31 up with it. Why is this so amazingly bad? Read Acts 2:16. When the people saw how brave the Apostles were they thought they were drunk and Peter answered them, "But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel", and he quotes Joel 2:28-31. But then your interpretations of Revelation, Chapter 12 on Page 207 of your book are also mixed up. You see Chapter 12 as a battle of Mary with Satan in this final hour, but in fact Chapter 12 of Revelation took place before the world was ever created. The angel Lucifer and all the other angels in Heaven were shown the future Lamb of God and His Mother in a "vision". Lucifer said in his heart, "No! I will not accept this Woman as being greater than I." At that moment Satan and his followers were cast out of Heaven. When the earth was created and Eve appeared Satan thought that she was That Woman and he pursued the Woman that he might devour her.

2. You say that Medjugorje is the "hub from which the spokes of other apparitions rotated, the very epicenter." And yet you quote a heresy from the Gospa on the very next Page 215. "You are not true Christians if you do not respect other religions." And the Gospa goes on to say, Moslems, Jews, and Protestants. Even the great Encyclical Letter that founded United Publishing, Inc. "Ut Unum Sint" does not deny that other Religions are Heresies. The people we must love and pray for, but this is not what the Gospa said. She (he) said that the Religions were God's Religions. Catholic Doctrine says that there is only one "God's Religion". Again on Page 218 you quote a heresy from Medjugorje that not only contradicts the Teachings of the Church but contradicts true and approved apparitions. "The majority of people go to Purgatory. Many go the Hell. A small number go directly to Heaven."

Two other approved apparitions state that people are falling into Hell like snowflakes out of the sky and that the number who go to Heaven is like the amount of grapes that are left after the harvest. If most people go to Purgatory (which is a branch of Heaven and is in fact salvation), then Christ was wrong when he said that the road to Heaven was narrow and few who took it. If most people go to Heaven and the Church is only 1/5 of the world and in fact all Christian Religions put together are only 25% of the world, then many non-Christians will make it to Heaven. Again this makes Christ a liar, who said, "Unless you eat My Body and drink My Blood, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." It makes the Church a liar, who states that, there is no salvation outside the Church except for those who are invincibly ignorant of the truth of the Church and the moral law. Now anyone who states that they saw Heaven and can describe it are liars and the truth is not in them. Of the five true mystics including St. Paul who were taken up to Heaven, not one could describe anything about it, since there are no human words for what is there. Likewise anyone who states that he or she saw God-The Father is a liar and the truth in not in them.

3. On Page 278 you quote Tom Cliffe and Barry Buckley as getting the message that "the devil will take over God's Church in ten years". This message was in 1985 and this did not take place nor could it or the "gates of Hell" would have prevailed over God's Kingdom, which cannot happen. "I will be with you all days even to the end of the world."

4. In Chapter 33, Page 262 TFH, you quote Mirna Nazzour from a book called, "THE MIRACLE OF DAMASCUS". On Page 350 you admit quoting from that book. On Page 353 you state you received permission to use the photo of Mirna on Page 100 from Dr. A. Mansour. Actually, I knew you were quoting from "THE MIRACLE OF DAMASCUS" before I read Page 353 because that book is the only book on Mirna that gives the correct English translations of those passages. Then you go on to mix Mirna up with Father Gobbi and Gladys Herminia Quiroga de Motta, not withstanding the fact that the book, specifically states that mixing Mirna up with other apparitions is a violation of the directives of the Bishop of Damascus and the author. You plagiarized that book and the photo of Mirna without permission from the author, The Publican, and in fact violated the author and the bishop's wishes.

The author truly believes in the apparitions of Mirna and knew that mixing them up with false apparitions like Gobbi and Medjugorje would destroy the messages, which are so pure and truly from Our Lady. He spent ten months in Damascus with Mirna and then traveled throughout the United States with her for three months trying to promote her messages. Unable to keep these pure messages from being mixed up with false mystics, he withdrew his book from the market. Plagiarism is against the law of the United States and God's law. The author could and should file a suit against you not so much for quoting the correct messages, but for mixing them up with Gobbi. It cost The Publican five years of his life and over $280,000 trying to protect the messages. It cost another man over $500,000 doing the same. Finally it was best to close down the seven centers for Unity, and remove the book and videos from the market. Who were you plagiarizing without permission, Mr. Brown?

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